JapanSugoi

Missing Tokyo?  Here are some great time lapse videos to remind you of the hustle and bustle of this great city.

Whether you live in Japan or are visiting for the first time, taking the subway trains you’ll see these big white and yellow Tokyo Metro Posters reminding people of common manners – “Please Do it at Home”

What other poster themes should Tokyo Metro be putting up? (See all the posters here)

Nineteen year old Misaki Omukai 大向美咲さん of Kuji City in Iwate Prefecture is just like any Japanese lady except that she is a traditional Japanese Ama Diver (the old women who dive for abalone (called “awabi” in Japanese with virtually no equipment) and an overnight internet sensation which she was featured on an NHK TV documentary.

The tradition of women free diving in the sea is  over 2,000 years ago and today many tourists can watch them work and eat seafood like sea urchin or oysters right out of the sea. While Misaki is still a relative “beginner” in the tradition, she certainly has become the town’s campaign girl as more tourists flock to the area to have a glimpse of this diver with the gravure idol good looks.  Read more...

According to Monocle magazine Tokyo is ranked as the third most livable city in the world.  The magazine ranked the “World’s Most Livable Cities (Quality Of Life)” using the following criteria:

• Safety / low crime
• International connectivity
• Climate
• Quality of architecture
• Public transportation
• Tolerance of others
• Environmental issues and access to nature
• Urban design
• Business conditions
• “Pro-active policy developments” and
• Medical care

Their entire Top ten “most livable cities” are:  Read more...

1. Zürich, Switzerland
2. Copenhagen, Denmark
3. Tokyo, Japan
4. Munich, Germany

If you were at the Kanda Nyojin 神田明神, shinto shrine in Tokyo last weekend, you might have seen some Japanese folks taking part in the winter season Daikoku festival which has a water purification ceremony, known as Kanchu misogi.

This year 33 white gown clad participants including one gaijin dude ran through the temple and performed  Torifune, a traditional Shinto warm-up exercise. Afterward, they entered the sacred bathing pools called misogiba which were filled with cold water and featured a large ice pillar. The participants then poured icey  cold water over themselves for purification and good fortune for the new year.  Read more...

Photo of the day: Vending Machines for Omikuji (fortune paper) in Kinkaku-ji Temple, Kyoto.

For Japanese, Omikuji 御御籤, 御神籤, or おみくじ are random fortunes written on strips of paper at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples which literally mean “sacred lottery”.

Omikuji are usually received by making a small monetary offering and randomly choosing one from a box or  given from a coin-slot machine. The omikuji is scrolled up or folded, and unrolling the piece of paper reveals the fortune written on it. It includes a general blessing which can be any one of the following:  Read more...

It was just a matter of time but between Jan 23 2010 and March 14 2010 , if you’ re in the Asakusa 浅草 shopping and tourist part of Tokyo you can use real Hello Kitty Money at 500 participating shops.  Asakusa is known as the “traditional” part of Tokyo with the Sensoji temple 浅草寺 and old style shops that draw in the tourists local and foreign.

 Read more...

Traveling to Japan? If you’re in Iga Ueno, between Osaka and Nagoya in Mie prefecture, visit the The Haiseiden (Poet’s Memorial Hall), a  Hakkakudo (an octagonal circular hall) and shrine constructed in 1942 commemorating the 300th anniversary of the haiku poet Matsuo Basho.

Basho, born in 1644, is famous for having established the highly artistic Japanese poetry (haiku) and traveling around whole country.  An Igayaki life-size seated figure of the Basho is enshrined in the hall and is open to public only on Basho Festival which has been held yearly on October 12, Basho’s death anniversary.

Shibuya Tokyo, the center of street fashion which moves 24 hours a day.

Very nice short film about living and travelling in Japan from Jan Raposa. It’s got good footage of the Tsukiji Fish Market, Food, Trains, Weddings etc. Come visit Japan!